How should I have shot this picture so it isn't so washed out?
PICTURE HERE
http://www.intergate.com/~tobeornot2b/me/P7290011.JPG This picture was shot on my Olympus SP-350 using SHQ (Super High Quality) + an Automatic setting + Landscape Scene. The shot is just so washed out, I really feel I need some guidance on how to shoot it. I'd like to bring the shade of the background trees into focus, and (if you'll look closely) you'll see my orange power cord lying there -- I should be able to see that much more vividly. It's not sharp enough. In short . . . this shot is pretty bad lol. I'm not a photographer but I am darn proud I cut down this gigantic tree by myself and I'd like to have photos of it (I also want help with a PANORAMA shot from the inside of my house to get the full length of this beast . . . but that's another thread). Thanks for every piece of advice you can give me. I am clueless about what I'm doing here! SHAKY HANDS \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\ HERE ARE THE STATISTICS FOR THE JPG IMAGE: Original date/time: 2007:07:29 10:24:08 Exposure time: 1/60 F-stop: 2.8 ISO speed: 50 Focal length: 8.0000 Flash: Not fired Exposure mode: Auto White balance: Auto Orientation: Top-left Light source: Unknown Exposure bias: 0.0000 Metering mode: Pattern Exposure program: Creative Digitized date/time: 2007:07:29 10:24:08 Modified date/time: 2007:07:29 10:24:08 Image description: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Scene type: Photograph User comment: Custom rendered: Normal Scene capture type: Landscape Gain control: None Digital zoom ratio: 0.0000 Contrast: Normal Saturation: Normal Sharpness: Normal Olympus special mode: 0,0,0 Olympus jpeg quality: 1 Olympus macro mode: 0 Olympus (unknown 1): 0 Olympus digital zoom: 1.0000 Olympus (unknown 2): 9.0950 Olympus (unknown 3): 65324,65044,64935,65383,65151,65063 Olympus firmware ver: SX855 Olympus picture info: [pictureInfo] Resolution=1 [Camera Info] Type=SX855 Olympus camera ID: "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA" (snip) Olympus more data: (snip) Camera make: OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. Camera model: SP350 X resolution: 72.0000 Y resolution: 72.0000 Resolution unit: Inches Camera version: Version 1.4 Colorspace: sRGB File source: DSC Before I did that, however, I shot the image using Olympus' RAW settings for highest resolution etc. I can't display the RAW image because I haven't settled on which RAW Converter I want to use (the Thumbs Plus plug in does not support the Olympus SP-350 sigh). \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\ HERE ARE THE STATISTICS FOR THE RAW IMAGE: Original date/time: 2007:07:29 10:08:37 Exposure time: 1/30 F-stop: 2.8 ISO speed: 56 Focal length: 8.0000 Flash: Not fired Exposure mode: Auto White balance: Auto Orientation: Top-left Light source: Unknown Exposure bias: 0.0000 Metering mode: Pattern Exposure program: Normal Digitized date/time: 2007:07:29 10:08:37 Modified date/time: 2007:07:29 10:08:37 Image description: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Scene type: Photograph User comment: Custom rendered: Normal Scene capture type: Standard Gain control: Low gain up Digital zoom ratio: 0.0000 Contrast: Normal Saturation: Normal Sharpness: Normal Olympus special mode: 2007669128,2007669128,2007669128 Olympus jpeg quality: 6 Olympus macro mode: 0 Olympus (unknown 1): 0 Olympus digital zoom: 1.0000 Olympus (unknown 2): 1.0000 Olympus (unknown 3): 39304,30634,39304,30634,39304,30634 Olympus firmware ver: (snip) Olympus picture info: (snip) Olympus camera ID: (snip) Olympus more data: (snip) Camera make: OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. Camera model: SP350 X resolution: 72.0000 Y resolution: 72.0000 Resolution unit: Inches Camera version: Version 1.4 Colorspace: sRGB File source: DSC |
How should I have shot this picture so it isn't so washed out?
SHAKY HANDS wrote:
PICTURE HERE http://www.intergate.com/~tobeornot2b/me/P7290011.JPG This picture was shot on my Olympus SP-350 using SHQ (Super High Quality) + an Automatic setting + Landscape Scene. The shot is just so washed out, I really feel I need some guidance on how to shoot it. [..] Time for you to learn the basics of exposure. :-) Your camera will try to make everything in the image as close to a mid-tone as possible. In this picture, though, there's too much contrast between the darks and the lights, so your camera has to guess what to do. So for whatever reason it's favoring the shadows and letting the highlights blow out. The way to take a better picture of that scene is to wait for less contrasty light to show up, like maybe in the early morning or the evening. Or else use a flash, or else learn how to change the exposure compensation setting on your camera. You could try EV -1 or -1.5 or so, and that would pull the blowouts down into the realm of maintaining detail, but also drowning out some of the shadows. -- http://www.xoverboard.com/cartoons/2..._argument.html |
How should I have shot this picture so it isn't so washed out?
"SHAKY HANDS" wrote in message oups.com... PICTURE HERE http://www.intergate.com/~tobeornot2b/me/P7290011.JPG This picture was shot on my Olympus SP-350 using SHQ (Super High Quality) + an Automatic setting + Landscape Scene. The shot is just so washed out, I really feel I need some guidance on how to shoot it. I'd like to bring the shade of the background trees into focus, and (if you'll look closely) you'll see my orange power cord lying there -- I should be able to see that much more vividly. It's not sharp enough. In short . . . this shot is pretty bad lol. I'm not a photographer but I am darn proud I cut down this gigantic tree by myself and I'd like to have photos of it (I also want help with a PANORAMA shot from the inside of my house to get the full length of this beast . . . but that's another thread). Thanks for every piece of advice you can give me. I am clueless about what I'm doing here! SHAKY HANDS \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\ It's a high dynamic range shot, and the DR is wider than the camera can cope with. Mainly, it's overexposed and the fix for that would be perhaps -1EV (experiment) of exposure compensation, but then the shaded trees will disappear into blackness. It may have been made worse by your camera being aimed at the shaded trees, the camera may give some priority to the middle of the picture in its matrix metering. Turning the contrast down in-camera might help a bit. I'm not familiar with your SP-350 apart from knowing it's quite good, but has it got RAW? RAW would give you more scope, you take one shot and develop it at 2 different exposures, one to get the highlights right, and one to get the shadows right, then combine the best bits of each in a program like PhotoMatix which can do it automatically. Alternatively, you take several shots at different exposures and blend them, again PhotoMatix can do this but subject movement can be a problem with this method but otherwise it can produce the best results. Even a DSLR with a wider DR can need help with shots like this. |
How should I have shot this picture so it isn't so washed out?
As Paul said really.
To add, if your camera has a histogram on it, make sure there are no spikes on the right hand side after taking the photo. If there are, adjust the exposure compensation down so that it under-exposes the shot and take another photo. Although the photo will look darker being under-exposed, at least you can post process it with image editing software. Once the whites have blown out (like the bark of the tree), it is very difficult to get any image detail back. "Paul Mitchum" wrote in message ... SHAKY HANDS wrote: PICTURE HERE http://www.intergate.com/~tobeornot2b/me/P7290011.JPG This picture was shot on my Olympus SP-350 using SHQ (Super High Quality) + an Automatic setting + Landscape Scene. The shot is just so washed out, I really feel I need some guidance on how to shoot it. [..] Time for you to learn the basics of exposure. :-) Your camera will try to make everything in the image as close to a mid-tone as possible. In this picture, though, there's too much contrast between the darks and the lights, so your camera has to guess what to do. So for whatever reason it's favoring the shadows and letting the highlights blow out. The way to take a better picture of that scene is to wait for less contrasty light to show up, like maybe in the early morning or the evening. Or else use a flash, or else learn how to change the exposure compensation setting on your camera. You could try EV -1 or -1.5 or so, and that would pull the blowouts down into the realm of maintaining detail, but also drowning out some of the shadows. -- http://www.xoverboard.com/cartoons/2..._argument.html |
How should I have shot this picture so it isn't so washed out?
Gino, Paul, Steve . . . Thank you so much guys! It isn't fair for me
to ask you to teach me photography, but I think we can all agree I need to learn the ABC's of --EXPOSURE. Can you recommend a good site for a newbie like me to study this? I have all the bells and whistles (the F~ whatevers etc. lol) on my Olympus but (how can I put this kindly) the Olympus Advanced User Guide is not exactly . . . er . . . friendly. The damndest part of this is . . . the tree is beginning to die (well, that is the goal here ;) but the problem is I want to get pictures of it before it turns brown. The crown is HUGE and I'm just so proud that little old me chainsawed this monster down by her little lonesome I want pictures!! So if you have a site where I can, ahem, __quickly__ get this down I would so appreciate it. I do extensive graphics work so manipulating the image is something I'm very comfortable with; but, as you've all said, the lighting range is so broad here that I'm overwhelming the camera's AUTOMATIC limitations. I'll try to research some of the unfamiliar terms you're using (EV~) but any online guides that are mercifully short will be much appreciated! And I'll of course upload the images as I progress so you guys can critique it. SH |
How should I have shot this picture so it isn't so washed out?
On Jul 31, 10:55 am, "Steve B"
wrote: I'm not familiar with your SP-350 apart from knowing it's quite good, but has it got RAW? I forgot to mention Steve, yes it absolutely DOES have RAW (and believe me, working with graphics as much as I do that will be my preferred format). I use Thumbs Plus ver. 7 and am mightily __****ed off__ that -- with all the RAW converter plugins generously provided for Canon and Nokia -- Cerious obviously discriminates against Olympus camera owners. My SP-350 isn't in their pathetically-thin list. I have that original RAW shot (see stats above) but need to hunt down conversion software that works with ~.OLR files (the Olympus file extension for RAW images) from a company less hostile to Olympus owners. SH |
How should I have shot this picture so it isn't so washed out?
"SHAKY HANDS" wrote in message oups.com... PICTURE HERE http://www.intergate.com/~tobeornot2b/me/P7290011.JPG This picture was shot on my Olympus SP-350 using SHQ (Super High Quality) + an Automatic setting + Landscape Scene. The shot is just so washed out, I really feel I need some guidance on how to shoot it. I'd like to bring the shade of the background trees into focus, and (if you'll look closely) you'll see my orange power cord lying there -- I should be able to see that much more vividly. It's not sharp enough. In short . . . this shot is pretty bad lol. I'm not a photographer but I am darn proud I cut down this gigantic tree by myself and I'd like to have photos of it (I also want help with a PANORAMA shot from the inside of my house to get the full length of this beast . . . but that's another thread). Thanks for every piece of advice you can give me. I am clueless about what I'm doing here! Actually, the photo is fairly salvageable. Some of the highlights have gone for good - but opening your photo on Lightroom enabled me to make some quick & easy adjustments that improve it a lot. The recovery tool brings back many of the highlights - the louvered window (thingy) for example, and the clarify tool (I love that one) helped the focus. All in all, it would be good enough for me - so have a quick play with the LR demo (if you don't have the programme) and see what you think. If you want to see the adjusted one I'll email it. Regards |
How should I have shot this picture so it isn't so washed out?
SHAKY HANDS wrote:
Gino, Paul, Steve . . . Thank you so much guys! It isn't fair for me to ask you to teach me photography, but I think we can all agree I need to learn the ABC's of --EXPOSURE. Can you recommend a good site for a newbie like me to study this? I have all the bells and whistles (the F~ whatevers etc. lol) on my Olympus but (how can I put this kindly) the Olympus Advanced User Guide is not exactly . . . er . . . friendly. The damndest part of this is . . . the tree is beginning to die (well, that is the goal here ;) but the problem is I want to get pictures of it before it turns brown. The crown is HUGE and I'm just so proud that little old me chainsawed this monster down by her little lonesome I want pictures!! In that case - since the target is comparitively stationary - simply use bracketing. (oh, and in general, if you have a tripod, use it. Tripods very rarely make a photo worse, assuming you have tinme to use one). Grab your camera, and simply take the photograph you want. Then turn your ev compensation to +1, and take it again. And again at +2, and so on until you're at the limit of your EV setting (+2 or +3 is common). Now repeat through the negative numbers (-1, -2) etc. If you want to be even more sure, use finer increments. Most cameras operate either in 1/2 or 1/3 EV steps. (p63 of your advanced manual) One of these photos should be "the best". After you've got the shot of your tree (before it turns brown) you can learn enough to understand all this in your own time :-) BugBear |
How should I have shot this picture so it isn't so washed out?
"SHAKY HANDS" wrote in message ups.com... On Jul 31, 10:55 am, "Steve B" wrote: I'm not familiar with your SP-350 apart from knowing it's quite good, but has it got RAW? I forgot to mention Steve, yes it absolutely DOES have RAW (and believe me, working with graphics as much as I do that will be my preferred format). I use Thumbs Plus ver. 7 and am mightily __****ed off__ that -- with all the RAW converter plugins generously provided for Canon and Nokia -- Cerious obviously discriminates against Olympus camera owners. My SP-350 isn't in their pathetically-thin list. I have that original RAW shot (see stats above) but need to hunt down conversion software that works with ~.OLR files (the Olympus file extension for RAW images) from a company less hostile to Olympus owners. SH Try Silkypix. There's a free version that will do the basics, and the SP350 is in the supported camera list. http://www.isl.co.jp/SILKYPIX/englis...s3/camera.html |
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